Slopaganda
Slopaganda is a portmanteau of "slop" and "propaganda", referring to AI-generated content designed to manipulate beliefs, emotions, and political decision-making at scale. The term is credited to Michał Klincewicz, an assistant professor in the Department of Computational Cognitive Science at Tilburg University, in 2025.[1]
Definition
[edit]Slopaganda is distinguished from traditional propaganda by three features: scale, scope, and speed.[2] Generative AI makes it possible to produce large volumes of content quickly and at low cost, allows for highly personalised and targeted messaging to specific sub-audiences, and leverages the hyper-connectivity of social networks to accelerate dissemination beyond what conventional media could achieve.[1][3]
Slopaganda can be micro-targeted — tailored to individuals based on estimated prior beliefs to reinforce political biases or emotional associations. The authors note that it need not aim at literal deception: much slopaganda is expressive rather than truth-apt, designed to create emotional associations rather than false factual beliefs.[1]
Relation to "AI slop"
[edit]
Slopaganda is a subset of "AI slop" — low-quality, mass-produced AI-generated content — distinguished by intent. Where AI slop may be produced indifferently for commercial or engagement-farming purposes, slopaganda is deployed with a deliberate political or ideological goal.[4]
Notable examples
[edit]Examples discussed by the term's originators include Donald Trump's prolific use of AI in Truth Social posts and Iranian Lego-themed music videos.[5] AI-generated videos posted by the White House mixing real military footage with clips from films and video games; and deepfake audio imitating political candidates during the 2024 US presidential campaign have also been given the label slopaganda.[4]
Slopaganda has also been documented outside the US-Iran context. In April 2026, Canada's Media Ecosystem Observatory identified a network of YouTube channels, based outside Canada, producing large volumes of fabricated polls and coordinated AI-generated messages supporting an Alberta separatist referendum question.[6] In Poland, a TikTok network known as "Prawilne Polki" used AI-generated avatars of young women in patriotic dress to promote messaging calling for Poland to leave the European Union.[7]
See also
[edit]
- AI-generated content in American politics
- Algorithmic radicalization – Radicalization via social media algorithms
- Brain rot – Slang for poor-quality digital content
- Clanker – Slur for robots and AI software
- Computational propaganda – Propaganda method based on digital technologies
- Dead Internet theory – Concept involving online bot activity
- Deepfake – Realistic artificially generated media
- Enshittification – Decline in online platform quality
- Eternal September – Internet jargon
- Misinformation – Incorrect or misleading information
- Moltbook – Social network exclusively for AI agents
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Klincewicz, Michał; Alfano, Mark; Fard, Amir Ebrahimi (2025). "Slopaganda: The interaction between propaganda and generative AI" (PDF). Filosofiska Notiser. 12: 135–162.
- ↑ Bortos, Sergiu (2026). "Slopaganda: How AI-generated noise is reconfiguring the digital infosphere" (PDF). Saeculum. 61 (1): 19–32.
- ↑ Markus, Tamara (19 June 2025). "Slopaganda: a new word for AI spin". University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Media Transition.
- 1 2 Alfano, Mark; Klincewicz, Michał (8 April 2026). "Slopaganda wars: how and why the US and Iran are flooding the zone with viral AI-generated noise". The Conversation.
- ↑ "AI-generated Lego videos and Trump's poo-bombing: welcome to the Iran-US slopaganda wars". The Guardian. 2026-04-08. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-05-20.
- ↑ Baranyai, Robin (2026-05-10). "'Slopaganda' over Alberta referendum questions concerning". London Free Press.
- ↑ "Slopaganda: How AI Turns Digital "Slop" into a Weapon of Influence". Vox Ukraine. 2026-06-10. Retrieved 2026-08-27.
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